Friday’s Religion News Roundup: Perry parodies; Newt Kardashian; the Maccabeats

What do you say we just watch videos all day and call it work? For example, a bunch of atheist parodies of Rick Perry’s “I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a Christian” ad are cropping up. And Rabbi Jason Miller has a Jewish-tinged Perry parody. “You don’t have to be in shul for every Shabbos […]

What do you say we just watch videos all day and call it work?

For example, a bunch of atheist parodies of Rick Perry’s “I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a Christian” ad are cropping up.

And Rabbi Jason Miller has a Jewish-tinged Perry parody. “You don’t have to be in shul for every Shabbos to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military and yet they can’t marry each other in most U.S. states,” Miller says in the video.


Perry’s top pollster hated the Texas governor’s ad too, calling it “nuts,” according to HuffPo.

One media note: Please stop calling the ad a “dog whistle” to social conservatives. The ad is as blatant as could be. It’s not coded language and it’s not hard to hear. A dog whistle is when you invoke Dred Scott.

Finally, an evangelical pastor in Iowa is circulating a campaign video that calls Newt Gingrich “the Kim Kardashian of the GOP.”

I haven’t been keeping up, but I think all of Gingrich’s marriages have lasted longer than Kardashian’s.

Gingrich and Perry are making a strong play for evangelicals in South Carolina, the AP reports. “I’m asking them to give me a second look,” says Perry.

The Southern Baptist Convention is again considering changing its name, after a national survey found 40 percent of Americans hold an unfavorable view of the denomination. Somewhat surprisingly, the SBC’s negatives were highest in the South.

The Free Will Baptists’s publishing house produced a seven-page study guide on racism after a Kentucky church’s miscegenation misstep.


The former presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wrote an open letter to Minnesota’s Catholic bishops, asking them to drop their support for an anti-gay-marriage amendment.

Former Philly Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s lawyers say his memory is “devoid of any recollection of the people, documents or underlying facts” surrounding the landmark clergy sex abuse case.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is preparing to shut down next week unless Congress passes an 11th hour measure to save it.

President Obama hosted an early Hanukkah party at the White House last night. Speaking of: The Maccabeats are redefining the idea of a “crossover hit,” with another catchy Hanukkah tune.

An Orthodox Jewish rabbi who was barred from the Army because he refused to shave won his legal fight and will be sworn in as a chaplain today.

An Islamic cleric in Europe warned Muslim women not to touch cucumbers, bananas or other “sexy” produce.


Have to say, I like fruit, but I’ve never looked at it that way.

Albert Pujols, the baseball star, took $250 million to become an Angel. Does that make him a bad Christian?, asks our own David Gibson.

Obi-wan Kenobi was a fan of St. Teresa of Avila.

Luke Skywalker and Yoda have their own spin on the new Roman Missal (pic at top left).

Yr hmbl aggregator,

Daniel Burke

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